


inked to my heart

by novocaine_sea



Series: 12 Months of Semi Eita [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Baby Shirabu, First Dates, M/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 08:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19205650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novocaine_sea/pseuds/novocaine_sea
Summary: When Eita first scheduled his tattoo, he never expected his former classmate to be his tattoo artist, nor that he'd become even more attractive since being on the volleyball team. Eita's unsure if he can keep the emotions at bay this time around, and he's wary of bringing anybody into Kenjirou's life that isn't as permanent as this tattoo.





	inked to my heart

**Author's Note:**

> I combined two of my favorite kind of AUs, what can ya do :^) also today marks my 3 year anniversary on AO3, and I'm still writing the same fandom three years later. Huzzah!

Eita remembers the day Kenjirou was born vividly. Him and his ex had already split up months prior to the birth, but Eita vowed that he would stick around and be a good dad. His ex wanted more than to be a mother, and Eita was willing to sacrifice everything to be a father. He’d always wanted kids, and he figured this may be his only shot. He didn’t know many guys or girls who would be willing to get with a single dad in the future.

Kenjirou came into the world screaming, tiny fists balled up as if ready to fight anybody who looked at him wrong. Eita thought he was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, even with his puffy red face. Sixteen grueling hours of labor could not have prepared him for the immense amount of love bubbling in the pit of his stomach for his newborn son. If anybody were to ask, Eita would deny that he’d cried onto his sons face. But he just couldn’t help it; Kenjirou was beautiful and Semi Eita may have been a bit of a sap.

Four years later and every day is a learning experience, and a reminder of the day Kenjirou was born. Every time Eita sees him doing something new, he’s amazed that, that once tiny human is learning and growing as fast as he is. Kenjirou is already smarter than Eita will ever be and he’s only four.

For instance, that morning Kenjirou asks his father what he’s doing that day while he goes to daycare.

“I’m getting a tattoo today,” Eita explains as he packs his sons lunch, glancing over at him. He sees curious caramel eyes staring back at him and it almost takes him aback. Kenjirou is always observing, always learning without saying much.

“What’s a tattoo?”

“It’s art that goes on your body forever.”

“Oh.” A beat passes, and then, “doesn’t seem very smart to get something perm’nent, daddy.”

Eita raises an eyebrow and scoffs a laugh, packing the lunchbox away into his son’s backpack. It’s Pochacco themed, mostly because Eita had thought it was cute and kind of resembled Kenjirou in a way, “Who taught you that word?”

“Uncle Satori.”

Eita did  _ not _ want to know what the context for teaching Kenjirou the idea of permanence was. He sets a mental reminder to himself to never let Kenjirou be alone with Satori ever again. He doesn’t need his best friend teaching his son anything, even if they turn out to be useful. 

“Are you ready to go?” Eita decides to let this one go for now, not needing to know the details of anything else Satori may be teaching his son. With the loudest huff ever, Kenjirou gets off the couch to pull his shoes on, the loud ripping of the velcro straps echoing through the apartment. “Look at you, putting your shoes on all by yourself,” Eita muses fondly. Kenjirou had always been a fast learner and it impressed Eita every day.

“I’m not a baby...” Kenjirou grumbles to himself and lets Eita help him put the straps of his backpack on his shoulders, the bag almost as big as he is. Eita only chuckles and ruffles his son’s hair as they both exit the apartment and head to his preschool. It’s not too far from the apartment, and the playground attached to it is open to the public on weekends; sometimes Eita will take Kenjirou down there to watch him socialize, making sure he’s okay with the other children. He doesn’t want his son to grow up as perpetually grumpy as he is now at four.

After dropping Kenjirou off at daycare, watching as he races towards his friend Shigeru, Eita goes to run errands. His tattoo appointment isn’t until noon, having wanting to get in right as it opened so he would have enough time to get Kenjirou after. He has time to go grocery shopping at least, and maybe pick up a new pair of pants for Kenjirou, since the others were ripped to shreds on the bottom. 

It’s still odd for him, to live his life for another human he’d helped create. It’s fulfilling, however, to have somebody need him in the way that Kenjirou does. He smiles to himself as he puts the groceries away in the refrigerator and cupboard, checking the time and figuring it’s about time to go. Luckily, the train station isn’t too far from the apartment either and he hops on, making it just in time for his appointment. 

He’s greeted blandly by a man in front with dark hair and a bored expression. There’s a ring circling the right side of his bottom lip and Eita can see the tattoos peeking out from his collar and sleeves. Eita briefly wonders if he’d given himself those tattoos or if they’d been acquired over time. 

“Taichi will be with you in a moment,” The man says, just as boredly as his expression suggests. Eita offers an awkward smile and sits in the waiting area, pulling out his phone. He always pauses to examine his lockscreen, a rare instance where both he and Kenjirou smiled for the camera. Eita doesn’t remember the details from that day, just knows that Wakatoshi had told them both to smile for the camera, and when Wakatoshi asks you to do something you do it.

He looks around as he waits for the web browser to load, taking in all the art on the walls. He wonders if these are just random designs that they’d chosen to use as decor, or actual designs that people may choose to get on their body. It’s clearly art meant to be inked, however, and Eita is in awe at the talent displayed. There are dragons, a multitude of flowers, strange faces. He thinks his favorite design is the cherry blossom tree, with coiling branches and petals suspended in space.

“Semi Eita. When I saw the name, I had my doubts. Surely, it couldn’t be  _ the _ Semi Eita,” A voice comes from Eita’s left and it makes him jolt, looking up into the face of the source. His lips part in shock as he puts the name the receptionist had given him and the words the man spoke together. 

“Taichi. Kawanishi Taichi,” Eita chuckles and stands, greeting his former teammate from high school. It’s been that long since he’s seen him; his graduation day, in which Kawanishi had quietly promised that Eita had been his favorite senpai. For a long time after that, Eita had wondered how true that sentiment was, but it slowly receded from his memory. Until now of course, with Taichi standing right in front of him, still as tall and muscular as ever. 

He looks a lot different from his look in high school. His hair is a bit messier, and a darker red than it had been. Eita thinks it suits him, along with the piercings lining his earlobe and the pair under his bottom lip. What’s really shocking, however, are all the tattoos painting his skin. Gone is the milky skin from their high school days and in its place is possibly every color on the color wheel. Eita can’t see an inch of bare skin on Taichi’s arms where his sleeves are rolled up. He finds himself gaping a bit and the desire to run his fingers over each individual image is strong.

“I usually don’t allow my customers to take pictures of me, but I can make an exception for you if you’d like, Semi-san.”

Eita’s cheeks heat up, turning the same shade of red as the flame he can see on the back of Taichi’s hand. “No, um, no I’m okay. You look... good! I didn’t know you had an interest in this, or art at all...” He motions to the walls, seeing familiar pictures on Taichi’s arms.

Taichi only shrugs and motions for Eita to follow, but there’s a ghost of a smirk on his lips, “You never asked.” He stops in front of a chair, Eita sitting down and making himself comfortable. “So what’re we doing today?”

Guilt washes over him; what kind of senpai had he been that he hadn’t tried to get to know the underclassmen? High school feels like a lifetime ago and he rarely thinks about it now, but he does regret not maintaining contact with his younger teammates. He’d been too focused on being the best setter he could be, the setter that Wakatoshi needed to shine, rather than getting to know the others. He worked himself to the bone, onto he was nothing but a sweaty mess lying on the floor of the gym. 

“I want to get my son’s name.” 

A crooked grin spreads on Taichi’s face, “Oh? Getting busy on the off season, hm?” When Eita doesn’t laugh, Taichi goes back to replacing the needle, pulling out some different inks in case Eita wants color. Taichi asks him a series of questions: what’s his son’s name, does he want color or just black, any fancy designs?

“Where were you thinking of putting it?” 

“Oh, um, on my chest... right above my heart...”

Taichi pauses as he’s pulling out the stencils to start drawing, raising an eyebrow at Eita. The pause is lengthy enough for Eita to start squirming in his chair uncomfortably before Taichi slowly drawls, “So you mean to tell me you have a kid  _ and _ you’ve gone soft? Semi-san, I’m not sure about these changes...” The smirk is still there and Eita rolls his eyes. Taichi is still the same as ever, even if his appearance his changed drastically. 

“Having a kid will do that to you...” The change in himself is not unwelcome. He’s even noticed it, and he’s glad that his hard exterior has seemingly broken down in favor of being more open. In high school he’d never let anybody except for Satori know the real him, and that was only because his best friend is the most persistent person on the planet. But after Kenjirou was born, his heart started to dethaw and Eita became mush, as Hayato liked to say.

Silence blankets them as Taichi focuses on drawing out the kanji, using as pristine a handwriting as he can manage. Eita is fascinated, wishing he’d known about Taichi’s artistic abilities when they were younger, as maybe it would have helped them stay close. He likes the focus on Taichi’s face, the way his brows pull with each line he draws, the toying of one of the metal studs with his teeth. Taichi wasn’t this attractive in high school, or maybe Eita just hadn’t noticed because he was too corralling Satori to really focus on anybody else.

“Okay, shirt off.” Taichi says as he shows him the design. Eita stares at it for a moment and smiles to himself before he pulls his shirt off, resting it in his lap. Taichi makes an approved noise and places the paper to Eita’s chest before slowly pulling it off.

“Is this going to hurt?” Eita asks, when the needle starts up and Taichi’s just about to put it to his skin. 

Taichi raises an eyebrow, “You’re asking  _ now? _ ” Eita only bites his lip and shrugs. “It’s going to feel like you’re being pinched over and over again. Can you handle that?”

Eita resists the urge to give him the finger and he only nods, tensing a bit in anticipation when the tip of the needle hits his skin. He releases his breath as Taichi gets to work, ignoring the fact that Taichi, who has grown to be extremely attractive, is leaning on his body as he does and touching his chest. The buzz of the needle is comforting and he lets Taichi do his thing, watching the lines permanently come together on his chest with the swipe of a wrist.

“So, you got a girl?” Taichi inquires, wiping away excess ink with a paper towel.

“What? Oh, no. It’s just me and Kenjirou...”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry.”

Eita waves his hand before lowering it, allowing Taichi to continue on with the tattoo, “It’s fine, she comes around every so often...” He can almost see the sag of relief in Taichi’s shoulders and he bites his lip to hide a smile. “What about you? Surely, somebody as good-looking as you is seeing somebody.”

Taichi snorts and he raises an eyebrow, briefly meeting Eita’s eyes before resuming, “Mm, I’m seeing a couple somebodies. Nothing too serious, just having fun. I’m sure you know nothing about that.”

Eita’s mouth falls open in shock at this revelation. He figures all his hopes are crushed, the ones he’d been building in his head since Taichi began; there’s no way he can ask Taichi out because he only wants to sleep around. Of course a tattoo artist wouldn’t want to settle down with a single father of a four year old bratty kid. 

“At least one of us is getting some action...” It’s awkward after that,silence ensuing, but luckily the tattoo doesn’t take too long. Taichi wipes him down and rubs the lotion onto the tattoo. Eita tries to ignore the sparks that follow in the wake of Taichi’s hand; it’s been too long since he’s been touched like this, however innocent that touch may be.

“Alright, all done. You like?” Taichi guides him over to the mirror and Eita examines his new ink, almost in awe seeing Kenjirou’s name on his chest. His fingers trace the outline of each kanji, smearing the lotion slightly but it still has more coverage. 

“I love it. Thank you...” He hears the snap of rubber gloves as Taichi takes them off and starts to clean his station.

“No need to thank me, I should thank you for paying me to put something so sappy on your chest.” Eita glares at him through the mirror, catching the crooked grin on Taichi’s face. 

He allows Taichi to cover and tape the tattoo up with plastic wrap so it doesn’t smudge as it sets, absorbing the instructions given on how to wash and take care of it for the first week or so.

“You know, we should hang out, catch up,” Eita says tentatively as he finally pulls his shirt back on. Taichi raises an eyebrow and there’s a knowing look in his eye, seeing right through Eita’s shaky offer.

“Yeah? Okay. Will your son be there?”

“Oh, um...” Eita could easily find a babysitter, but... “Do you want to meet him?”

Taichi shrugs and wipes his hands on a rag, slinging it over his shoulder after. The simple action should not have been so attractive, but it was. “Sure. Must be a pretty good kid if you got his name on you forever.”

Eita smiles a little and he nods because Kenjirou  _ is  _ a good kid, when he wants to be. For the most part he’s on his best behavior, but he has his meltdowns. “Okay, then, do you want to come over...?” They agree on the details, exchanging numbers, and Eita can’t hide the sparkle in his eye. He hasn’t been on a date in a long time and even if this isn’t really a  _ date _ , per say, it’s still something. A step in the right direction for Eita to put himself back out there.

“Ah, Semi-san.” Taichi stops Eita before he leaves, having taken the payment for the tattoo while they discussed the details of the date. Eita stops with his hand on the door to push outside, turning back to raise an eyebrow at him. “I hope when I see you next, your flirting has improved, because it’s pretty terrible.”

A snicker sounds and is immediately followed by a cough to cover it up, Eita glancing at the receptionist ducking behind his hand. His cheeks flush and he only nods frantically, rushing out of the tattoo parlor in his embarrassment. Of course Taichi still lives to make others lives a living hell.

Eita just can’t believe he finds that attractive. 

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna try and have chapter 2 up soon (and if it gets out of hand, there might be more bc I'm unpredictable) so we can all have more of the baby Kenjirou and Taichi we deserve!  
> Also, the receptionist is Suna, in case anybody was curious :)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/novocaine_sea)


End file.
